2024 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Robert B. Hanson, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Badding and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Chicchelly, J.  (7 pages)

            Patrick Kirwan appeals the denial of his application for postconviction relief.  OPINION HOLDS: Because Kirwan fails to show he received ineffective assistance from his trial counsel, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Marion County, Charles C. Sinnard, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Ahlers, P.J., Chicchelly, J., and Blane, S.J.  Opinion by Blane, S.J.  (4 pages)

            Terry Cobbins appeals the summary dismissal of his second application for postconviction relief asserting Iowa Code section 822.3 (2019) is unconstitutional.  OPINION HOLDS: Cobbins failed to preserve error on his constitutional contention, so we affirm dismissal. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Muscatine County, Gary P. Strausser, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Badding and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J.  (10 pages)

            A defendant convicted of harassment challenges an order prohibiting him from having in-person contact with his two minor sons for five years.  OPINION HOLDS: As the defendant did not preserve error on his challenge to the no-contact order involving his older son, we limit our review to the no-contact order involving his younger son and to his substantive due process challenge.  Because we find the district court correctly determined that his younger son was a victim of the defendant’s public offense, and because the defendant’s substantive due process claim lacks merit, we affirm the ruling.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, David Porter, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Tabor, P.J., and Badding and Buller, JJ.  Langholz, J., takes no part.  Opinion by Buller, J.  (22 pages)

            A professor appeals from judicial review affirming discipline following findings of research misconduct.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding the university did not act unconstitutionally or in violation of its rules, policies, or procedures, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Cedar County, Joel W. Barrows, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., Schumacher, J., and Blane, S.J.  Buller, J., takes no part.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (7 pages)

            Zachary Hayes appeals the district court’s denial of his application for postconviction relief.  He asserts ineffective assistance of trial counsel, arguing counsel failed to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence on one count and failed to request jury instructions on lesser-included offenses.  OPINION HOLDS: As Hayes failed to show ineffective assistance of counsel regarding the sufficiency-of-the-evidence claim and failed to preserve error on the jury-instructions claim, we affirm the district court’s denial of the application for postconviction relief.  And we do not address the ineffective assistance of postconviction counsel.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Mark R. Fowler, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Buller and Langholz, JJ.  Opinion by Langholz, J.  (13 pages)

            John and Trisha Krughel appeal from a judgment ordering them to demolish a building on their property because it was built in violation of restrictive covenants.  OPINION HOLDS: The Krughels built a building on their lot in violation of the lot’s restrictive covenants.  Their argument that it was impossible or impractical to seek approval of their subdivision’s building committee fails because the building committee existed and the Krughels had notice of that fact.  And we decline to consider the Krughels’ new laches and estoppel-by-acquiescence arguments because they did not preserve error by raising them with any specificity in the district court.  So we affirm the district court’s order to demolish the building.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Andrea J. Dryer, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (7 pages)

            Patrick Isabell appeals his convictions for robbery in the first degree, burglary in the first degree, and going armed with intent.  He claims there was not sufficient evidence to show he had a gun.  OPINION HOLDS: Upon our review, we affirm.  

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Sac County, Angela L. Doyle, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Greer, P.J., and Chicchelly and Buller, JJ.  Opinion by Chicchelly, J.  (5 pages)

            Diaz contends his conviction violated his constitutional rights, his sentence is illegal, and the district court should have ordered a competency evaluation.  OPINION HOLDS: Because neither Diaz’s conviction nor sentence violated his constitutional rights or constituted error, we affirm both.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Robert B. Hanson, Judge.  AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED AND REMANDED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Badding and Langholz, JJ.  Opinion by Badding, J.  (12 pages)

            Ryan Bigg appeals the child support, spousal support, and attorney fees awarded to Rachael Bigg in their dissolution-of-marriage decree.  OPINION HOLDS: On our de novo review of the record, we modify the dissolution decree to award Rachael transitional spousal support for eighteen months.  We affirm the award of trial attorney fees to Rachael and deny her request for appellate attorney fees.  The case is remanded to the district court for recalculation of child support.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Muscatine County, Gary P. Strausser, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Schumacher, P.J., Ahlers, J., and Carr, S.J.  Opinion by Schumacher, P.J.  (9 pages)

            Danah Kleppe appeals her conviction for operating while intoxicated.  Kleppe claims the district court should have granted her motion to suppress.  She asserts that an officer did not have probable cause to stop her vehicle because the evidence does not show that she committed a traffic violation.  OPINION HOLDS: Kleppe turned left at two intersections without signaling.  We find that because of the presence of another vehicle at one intersection, the proximity of the officer, and the totality of the circumstances, the officer had reasonable suspicion to stop Kleppe’s vehicle.  We affirm the district court.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Poweshiek County, Shawn Showers, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Buller and Langholz, JJ.  Opinion by Buller, J.  (5 pages)

            A father appeals from a ruling declining to modify child-support obligations.  The mother requests appellate attorney fees.  OPINION HOLDS: We agree with the approach taken by the district court; we affirm and grant the mother’s request for attorney fees.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Jeffrey A. Neary, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., Langholz, J., and Carr, S.J.  Opinion by Langholz, J.  (6 pages)

            Melvin Hardgraves appeals from the denial of his petition to modify a custody order to obtain physical care of his eight-year-old daughter, who is currently placed in the care of her mother, Ica Goulette.  OPINION HOLDS: Hardgraves has not met his heavy burden to show a substantial change in circumstances warranting modification of the current physical-care order.  We thus affirm the district court’s denial of his modification petition.  We also deny Goulette’s request for appellate attorney fees.